Belding school identified as 'reward school'

Ellis Elementary School has been identified as a reward school based on the points the school earned on the Michigan School Accountability Scorecard.

Mattie Cookmattie.cook@sentinel-standard.com

Ellis Elementary School has been identified as a reward school based on the points the school earned on the Michigan School Accountability Scorecard.

Ellis has received between 60 to 70 percent of the possible points earned on the Michigan School Accountability Scorecard.

Through the scorecard system, schools are placed into one of three categories: reward, focus or priority.

A reward school is identified as an institution that is outperforming other schools in the areas of achievement or growth, or is performing better than schools with a comparable student population.

A focus school is one that has a "large" achievement gap in at least 30 percent of its student achievement scores.

A priority school is identified as one whose achievement and growth is among the lowest 5 percent of schools in the state of Michigan.

Some of the ways that the staff have worked to increase their score are by following a curriculum designed for each grade level, by having inclusion classrooms where students with disabilities work side-by-side with their peers, and through integrating technology into daily operations.

During the 2012-2013 school year, Ellis Elementary School integrated a digital math assessment tool called Discovery Ed into their classrooms. This tool allowed teachers to determine the progress and proficiency of students in math.

According to the data received, there was a zero-point change for kindergarten level math, a 16-point increase for first-grade math proficiency and a 28-point increase in second-grade proficiency in math.

Discovery Ed also was used as a digital reading assessment tool to determine proficiency and progress in all students.

For kindergartners at the school, there was a two-point increase in reading proficiency, for first-grade, there was an 18-point increase and there was a 20-point increase for second-grade students.

According to Ellis Elementary School Principal Tiffany Jackson, during the 2012-2013 school year Ellis Elementary had 400 students. Of those students, 387 parents attended parent-teacher conferences in the fall.

"We are a dedicated, caring, hard-working and highly trained staff. Our goal to include our parents, families and community in the education of all our kids is of utmost importance," Jackson said.

Just two years ago Jackson and staff at Ellis Elementary School thought that they may have been considered a priority school.

"I was completely shocked when I found out we were a reward school. It's quite an honor. We've worked hard to be cohesive and to align the curriculum for our students," said Jackson.

According to Jackson, one of the things the school has done is get families involved to increase daily attendance counts and encourage nightly reading.

"We are involving families a lot more. We train the families on the vocabulary and terms that the students need to know. It's really important to get them on board to move forward because we can't do it by ourselves," said Jackson.

Now that Ellis is entering a new school year, the academic goals will continue to evolve and innovate based on the school's atmosphere.

"We're headed in the direction of having students tell their parents that they have met a goal and then they identify what their next goal is. It's all about taking ownership," Jackson said.